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Subj:.....Primitive
Railroading Problem (S620)
From the book
"Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd"
Edited by Martin Gardner
From: Dover Publications in 1959
Find
the simplest method by which the trains
can
pass.
In this specimen of
primitive railroading we have an
engine and four cars
meeting an engine with three cars.
The problem is to
ascertain the most expeditious way of
passing the two trains
by means of the side-track, which
is only large enough
to hold one engine or one car at a
time.
No ropes, poles or
flying switches are to be used, and
it is understood
that a car cannot be connected to the
front of an engine.
How many times is it necessary to
back or reverse the
directions of the engines to
accomplish the feat,
each reversal of an engine being
counted as a move
in the solution? |